Wisconsin has had trouble getting citizens their hard-earned licenses in a timely fashion, and a recent veto by Governor Evers isn’t going to help matters.
Sara Wuorinen had to wait at least 16 months to get a substance abuse counselor license. Sara is not alone, as there have been countless other cases of long processing delays, duplicate requests for paperwork, and other bureaucratic delays in issuing licenses.
Assembly Bill 201 would have required state licensing agencies to track processing time—certainly a piece of information that aspiring workers would want to know. This should also be a metric that licensing agencies keep as low as possible to balance their duty of measuring the applicant’s competence and not needlessly delaying the applicant’s ability to begin working. Consumers will suffer from this delay as well—not being able to get access to essential services from licensed professionals.
The veto is particularly damaging for at least two reasons. First, Wisconsin has taken some important steps in recent years to reform licensing in the state. The state has a Legislative Council Study Committee that regularly meets and makes recommendations for reform. The Department of Safety and Professional Services has also performed reviews of licensing in the state.
The governor’s veto seems out of step with this past work in Wisconsin. But this isn’t the first time that Evers has vetoed common-sense licensing reform. In 2019, Governor Evers vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have streamlined the licensing process for certified nursing aides in the state—a profession where Wisconsin and every other state could use more workers.
A second reason this veto is damaging is that long waiting times for processing licenses in Wisconsin are merely a symptom of a larger disease. In short, Wisconsin licenses too many professions. According to my research published by the Archbridge Institute, Wisconsin is ranked ninth nationally with respect to the number of licensed occupations. Of the 331 occupations examined, Wisconsin bars entry into 192 of them—13 more than the national average.
Wisconsin also performs poorly relative to its neighbors. Illinois licenses just 161 occupations and Indiana comes in at 153—near the bottom nationally.
Why is this a problem that the people of Wisconsin should be concerned about? Beyond long processing times, which are certainly problematic, excessive licensing also costs Wisconsin jobs and economic activity. Estimates suggest that licensing in Wisconsin costs the state 37,000 jobs and at least $133 million annually.
Licensing also raises prices for consumers and exacerbates skilled worker shortages by discouraging workers from seeking new jobs. Tougher licensing is known to discourage businesses from setting up shop in the Badger State.
If most other states do not license a profession, it doesn’t make sense to make it uniquely hard for aspiring workers to get started. Licensing should be rightsized in the state to properly balance the rights of workers to earn a living with maintaining a minimum level of competence.
Now is not the time for Wisconsin to take a step back. Excessive occupational licensing is hurting aspiring workers and consumers alike.
The citizens of Wisconsin need real occupational licensing reform. Here’s hoping for a better recognition that the Badger State has a licensing problem in dire need of a solution.
—Edward Timmons is a service associate professor and director of the Knee Center for the Study of Occupational Regulation at West Virginia University. He is also a senior research fellow with the Archbridge Institute.
